The New Jersey Watchdog reports that potential presidential candidate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spent $82,594 at Jets and Giants games during the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

No, this wasn't coming out of his $175,000/year salary -- it was spent as part of his expense advance, “an allowance of funds not otherwise appropriated and used for official receptions on behalf of the state, the operation of an official residence, for other expenses.”

Since U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I - Vt.) announced his campaign for the presidency, considerable attention has been paid to his avowed socialism. On the Sunday after his announcement, he appeared on ABC's This Week, where the host, George Stephanopoulos, asked, "Is it really possible for someone who calls himself a socialist to be elected president of the United States?"

In an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson weighed in on a number of issues, including his idea for a 10 percent flat tax for all income earners. He says the idea he got from the Bible is "pretty darn fair."

The Washington Post quotes Carson:

The 2016 election is already in full swing with eight candidates having officially declared their candidacy (two for the Democratic nomination, six for the Republican nomination). Polling of these candidates among potential constituencies has already begun as well, to wildly different projections. With 18 months still to go, a lot is sure to change.

Last night, the United Kingdom held elections. What was supposed to be a tightly contested race between the Tory (Conservatives) and the Labour Party turned into a convincing victory for the former. Voters took away 10 seats from the Labour Party, putting David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, in a firm position to run the new government. What is interesting is that it wasn't the pollsters who were able to predict the results.

Remember those old days when Ron Paul came out of nowhere to raise over $4 million online in a single day ... twice?

Well that was 8 years ago. Before the development of Instagram. When Twitter was still a little tweet. And when "online donations" was a foreign concept to most political consultants.

And although political consultants and commentators seem to now understand the power of the Internet, they haven't quite grasped just WHY Ron Paul was so effective online.

Earlier this week, a bill that would fully legalize marijuana in Texas surprised many politicos in the state when it cleared the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee in a 5-2 vote. The author, state Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview), a tea party conservative, is pushing the proposal on religious grounds, arguing that marijuana comes from God and therefore should not be banned.

A peer-reviewed study published Thursday examines the potentially polarizing effects social media can have on users. Eytan Bakshy, Solomon Messing, and Lada Adamic authored the study titled, Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook.

In the paper, the authors suggest that ideological 'self-sorting' does happen on Facebook.

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the NSA bulk data collection program is illegal. The decision is a major legal victory for opponents of the program and will likely make the current debate in Congress over extending provisions in the PATRIOT Act even more intense.

The Hill reports:

Each year, the first Thursday of May stirs up feelings of national patriotism, piety, and controversy as the president dedicates yet another National Day of Prayer.

American presidents have had a long history of calling on national days of fasting and prayer, beginning with the Continental Congress and continuing until the present day. All presidents, except Jefferson and Jackson, called for national days of prayer.